The narrative is: Canadian guy meets Hiroshima gal, then they have a couple of baby girls. The lighter side of bicultural parenting.

April 12, 2007

Hip-Hop Cookie Monster

When my mom came to visit in March, among other gifts she brought a blue Yum Yum Talking Cookie Monster. Elena just seems to love the sounds that come out when you pry open its mouth:"Me…love…cookies."

"Umm...de YUM….""Soft….deLICIOus…""Burp, excuse me…" etcetera.

We use Cookie Monster at crisis points to calm Lady E. down or divert her attention from screaming when the usual countermeasures are not effective. Its magical powers work like a charm nearly every time. Plus, sometimes Elena seems to really respond to it, making for entertaining gobbledygook conversations between the three-month old tiny person and the little blue Sesame Street toy.

One twist I enjoy is to add an element of my own brand of nonsensical fun to the mix. Specifically, the toy’s audio voice is activated when the Cookie Monster’s mouth is opened and two contact points inside are separated. So I figured out a way to have the elements briefly connect, making the words come out super-fast and resulting in Rain Man-esque rapid fire speech:“So-so-so-soft. de-de-de-de-deli-sha-sha-sha-ous.”“Ek-ek-ek-ek-ek-cu-cu-cu-cuse me.”

This never ceases to entertain me. So the Hip-Hop Cookie Monster actually amuses TWO infants in our household.

Snoop Dogg meets the Cookie Monster? Maybe if I figure out a way to upload audio files you can get a taste of this infant funk. It may seem trivial to you, dear reader, but for us, well, it keeps me laughing and my rising daughter delighted.